The Fool

The tardy students were lined against the courtyard wall, hands behind their backs. "Five points will be docked off your History finals," the words came out of AzVard's mouth accompanied by spit. Ran reckoned the man looked like a puffer fish, his belly bulging underneath the belt on his robes. AzVard's shifty eyes landed on Eva and his tone took a turn. "Everything alright, child? Anything the matter?"

"How come you check on her but not on us?" Another tardy student complained, and Ran snickered. "Apologies, sir. It won't happen again," Eva answered flatly. Seemingly satisfied, AzVard nodded his head and dismissed the slackers. Eva let out a shallow breath, then turned around and started speed-walking towards the auditorium without a second glance at her brother.

"So what happened?" Ran questioned following right behind her. Unfortunately, he couldn't hide the schadenfreude lacing his voice.

"Nothing happened, I overslept," Eva answered promptly.

However, that did not cease Ran's badgering. So he pressed on, "Nothing happened? You overslept?" He repeated her words dumbfounded. "Do you take me for a fool?"

"Yes," Eva replied. Swishing her hair with a flick of her head she turned her back on Ran, leaving him behind. And he had thought he was the one who woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.

Upon entering the classroom, Ran headed toward the row before last, squeezing himself between Reyes and Daveed, while Eva took her usual seat at the front. His group of bottom-of-the-class slackers greeted him with toothy grins. Huddling onto the raised platform with his gang of no-goods, the three exchanged quick pleasantries before scanning the room for a book to steal before the professor's arrival. The unwilling victim was a student sitting one row before them, who reluctantly relinquished his copy of Beasts of Scorpia.

The auditorium, like every other room in Hyacinth High, was a magnificent display of yellow bricks and power. A raised dais lay in the middle of the room, where the professor would stand and lecture. The first course of the day was "A History of Wild Beasts," instructed by Professor Gregory Tamraz.

Despite Ran arriving late, ten more minutes passed, yet the dais where the professor should have stood remained empty. Ran was starting to mindlessly doodle on his classmate's book when his friends started to gossip.

"Did your mom mention the last parent meeting?" Reyes asked, "I heard it was messy."

Daveed nodded, "She wouldn't tell me everything, but from what I gathered something was stolen from the school and there's an ongoing investigation."

Ran dropped his quill and joined in. "What did I miss?"

"Professor Scarlet is being replaced. There's someone new taking her spot this semester," Daveed explained.

"Is she hot?" Asked Ran lazily.

Daveed sighed exasperated, "We don't know if the replacement is a she, and anyway, I don't believe Professor Scarlet is a thief. It would be better if no one replaces her at all, and this mess gets sorted real quick," the scrawny boy would've continued ranting but the professor finally showed up.

Professor Gregory Tamraz was a stunning man. He had an androgynous look coupled with dreamy eyes that seemed to get dreamier by the day. After checking out his eyes, Ran noticed his breath. It was ragged as if he had trouble holding the air in his lungs. The professor had put up a veiled attempt to hide it, but it didn't do mu.

Professor Gregory did not shy away from throwing out generous smiles at the gathered class. After taking his position in the middle of the room, he directly started installing an ether projector that displayed a ginormous red dragon. Pointing at one of the students in the front row, he began his lecture, "What would you do if you saw such a beast standing in front of you?"

The student fidgeted but remained silent. Without waiting for an answer, Gregory flicked his wrist, and the projection of the dragon dived toward the girl. She shrieked loudly as it passed right through her and then hovered over the class.

Chatter erupted among the students, but a wave of his hand made them still. "This, my dear children, is a rare breed of the last Phoenix Dragons of Reesa. It is rumored a few more hide in the treacherous valleys of Salve, but aside from rumors and conjecture, there isn't much proof."

The longer Gregory spoke, the lower and more monotone his voice became. Some of the students in the back row were starting to doze off, and Ran would have been one of them, had he not been suddenly agitated. He pinched Reyes under the desk and whispered, "Do you think he's okay?" Reyes woke in a daze and looked up at Ran with sleepy eyes, "Who? Gregster?"

"Yeah, it feels like he's slowly fading."

"Me too, wake me up when the bell rings," Reyes said, ignoring the intensity in Ran's gaze and slumping right back to sleep.

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